Kilometres Walked : Saturday – 10.3.

Saturday 26th August, 2023.

After a short stint in Stratford we once again squeezed our belongings back into our bags (Just😳) and headed for the The Cotswolds. But first we did quickly drive past Anne Hathaway’s house on the way out of Stratford. With it’s thatched roof and lovely garden it was extremely cute and also nice and quiet as nobody goes out before 10am here.

Our first coffee stop in The Cotswolds was the biggest village Moreton On Marsh. Really it was only because we were in desperate need of a coffee that we stopped. Whilst the village is very pretty, it didn’t really appeal to us with how big the place was and how the busy main road goes right through the middle taking away any romanticism of a small Cotswold village. Hence we didn’t even take any photo’s.

Boureton On the Water was next (we missed the turn off for a few other smaller ones🤪) and this village definitely felt more like The Cotswolds. The only issue was the crowds! With it being a Saturday, still school holidays and to top it off a Bank Holiday weekend there was no escaping the hoards. But we still had a lovely little wander and I was able to indulge in my last scone with jam and cream in England.

Bourton on the Water was very picturesque with little bridges crossing over the shallow water course running through the middle of the village. Pretty cottages lined the pavement with the quintessential cottage gardens and of course there were ducks galore waiting eagerly for the tourists to feed them. After our cream tea we had a meander and then headed for the next stop. Strangely enough it was The Gloucester Services (A service station for us Aussies). I know it’s not exactly a Cotswold village but we watched a television programme a few weeks ago which featured this particular service station and we were intrigued to check it out.

This was not your average service station. The place was designed to blend into the the surrounding hills and it has been done extremely well. It was like wandering into a tent on Harry Potter, it seemed so much bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. Some of the food looked very scrumptious indeed and we did purchase some homemade curry for our dinner which we are very much looking forward to tonight. Once we escaped the masses we then made our way to Castle Combe, another small village in The Cotswolds. A very beautiful and romantic place filled with super cute cottages and winding roads and a small watercourse.

Battling our way out of another busy little village with very narrow roads we then finally headed to our final destination Bath.

After checking in to our Airbnb we opted for the night entry to The Roman Baths. What an amazing place. The Bath complex was built around the middle of the 1st century CE. When you look at The Sacred Spring you can see the water bubbling and the steam rising from it and to think it is still going today after 2000 years. It was lovely to see all the lights come on as the sun started to set and wander around without hoards of tourists and see the reflections in the water of the great bath once darkness arrived.